Tag Archives: Evangelism

The only other time we have preached on this campus was two days back in October 2o13.

On Tuesday we drove much of the day down from the northern top of the state from where we had preached at a great church twice on Sunday.

While driving through Albuquerque I had the idea I may try to preach there today. However when I called there was difficulties with the preaching areas being already occupied by other groups.

I wrestled with the idea of preaching in a different area but it was a risk. They may have threatened me with arrest or shut me down. This would have ended in a wasted day.

I decided to go with my original plan and make the long drive all the way down the state to Las Cruces.

Last time we preached here the administration and police officers did an outstanding job of cooperating with us and allowing us to preach without interfering.

They did ask us to call ahead of time and give them a heads up that we were coming.

Driving to campus I called and let them know we were coming. The administrator was very helpful, professional and polite. He even offered to give me a copy of their free speech policy.

I had some difficulty parking so I arrived about 15 minutes later than I wanted to.

I was in the administrator’s office just before noon and he explained the free speech policy to me and told me the areas I was permitted to preach in.

I was spying out the land and trying to decide which area would be best when I noticed the students were beginning to come out of their classes on class break.

I started my voice recorder, put my jacket and buttons on and began preaching across the street from the student union in a grass area facing a high traffic area.

This was around 12:20 PM and the weather was perfect. Clear, sunny skies, no wind and weather in mid 60’s.

I gathered a crowd of slightly over 100 fairly quickly. The crowd was asking good questions, behaving civilly, and was listening as I answered their questions.

Around 12:50 PM a police officer came walking towards me asking to follow him so he could talk to me.

The crowd cheered and dispersed as they assumed I was being kicked off the campus.

I was somewhat disappointed with this police officer since I had gone out of my way to cooperate with the procedure the school had asked me to.

The officer began to tell me I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I was allowed to preach but I just could not disagree with students.

He then tried to tell me he was not interfering with my right to free speech.

I respectfully told him he was surely interfering with my free speech rights by telling me students had the right to disagree with me but I did not have the right to argue and disagree with them.

He asked for my ID, asked if I had gotten permission, asked me what message I was preaching, and asked about my buttons.

I remained respectful but I was firm and no nonsense with this officer.

I did not appreciate him ruining the crowd and interaction I was having by asking me to follow him and stop preaching after I had gone through necessary procedure. Now he is telling me I can’t argue with the students.

I respectfully and firmly gave him a short lesson on the purpose of free speech.

They told me the students called and complained I was starting a riot and they felt threatened.

I told the officer it was his job to control the students who wanted to get violent with me for exercising free speech. I have been doing this for years and could tell the crowd was not even rowdy, much less anywhere near wanting to riot.

I told the officers I would deescalate the situation if it attempted to turn violent but they cannot stop me from speaking because someone doesn’t like my speech and threatens to do me violence.

The other officer somewhat apologetically told me they knew I had already received permission. I think he was embarrassed by this other officer’s actions towards me.

I began preaching again around 1:00 PM. I began with one student who stayed around and was asking me questions. We were having a good discussion and the crowd quickly continued to grow to around 125-150 for the remainder of the afternoon.

Some students across the sidewalk were selling baked goods and one of the females brought me one of their items as a gift.

Later another female student brought me a new bottled beverage.

I was somewhat surprised at how well the students listened. My crowds were not massive but they were good sized crowds. Most of the day when they would ask a question and I would begin answering they remained silent and listened intently.

It also seemed I was able to connect with several of my hecklers today. They grew silent, stopped heckling me and began listening intently.

This happened with one catholic student with a large cross with a symbol of Jesus still on it. He brought a voice box and tried to preach over me but the police shut him down. He was opposing me fiercely at first but after some exchanges he stopped and began listening.

Later in the day the students asked something about why it was a sin to vote for the president twice.

As the crowd listened quietly I said “He supports same sex marriage, he supports abortion and he supports islam”.

After I said this I heard no objections from the crowd but they just remained silently listening. I almost think they had never even thought of this or heard anyone bring it up. No one objected or argued. All I heard was crickets.

Around 3:00 PM a male student interrupted the crowd and said something to the effect of “You make not like what this man is saying or the way he is saying it but about everything he is saying is totally biblical. I suggest you don’t just take his word for it but go study your bible and find out if what he is saying is true. ”

The crowd tried to close in around me, join hands and sing songs.

They never actually were able to do this but just closed in and continued asking questions.

One female student informed me I was speaking to educated, logical, informed college students and informed me I needed to come to them with facts, information and logical arguments.

I believe she was really trying to help me and really believed what she was saying. However what she said was so ridiculous and so far from the truth I started laughing.

I told her I had not heard any good arguments from the students all day long and thought they were uninformed.

I also told her I was backing up everything I was preaching with logical arguments. I gave her and those listening several examples of discussions I had repeatedly had during the day on subjects such as judging, sinning, repentance, love, etc.

I briefly replayed for them the students comments, my arguments and the students responses.

As usual my wife had students around her asking questions a good part of the day.

With the students around me asking questions we exited the crowd and thanked the officer around 3:15 PM.

Thursday November 12, 2015: The only other time we have preached on this campus was in October of 2013 and we had three great days of preaching.

That last time here we met a campus minister on this campus who heard brother Jed Smock preach back at the University of Arizona in the 1990’s when he was a student and it had a great impact on him.

This campus minister understands our ministry and our message and is very supportive. He always shows up with disciples from their group and witnesses on the sidelines. They are on campus witnessing about every day.

It was clear, cool, sunny day today with high’s in the low 50’s.

We arrived on campus around 12 noon. The last time we were here we understood there to be a same day sign in. When my wife went to sign in she was told the person who was in charge before no longer worked here and now their policy was different and we had to wait at least 24 hours. Those we needed to speak to were in meetings.

As we walked around the campus looking for the free spot we had previously preached in there was a rally going on at a different spot for free college. A student was on a bullhorn and several were standing on either side of him holding poster boards and a crowd was gathered.

It was now around 12:30 PM. With my witness jacket of “Fear God Jesus Saves Repent or Perish”
on we just stood about 50 yards from where the rally was talking place.

The campus minister texted me and reminded me to ask for a copy of the policy. I was about to do this anyway.

Sister Elizabeth and I went into the office again and the female student who had spoken to my wife before now seemed more humble and said we could speak with the person we needed to in order to sign in.

After getting signed in and began preaching it was around 1:20 PM.

I soon gathered a small crowd that continued to grow and kept growing to around 120-170 at the largest.

The police and administration were on hand for some time but left later in the day.

I was able to preach and answer questions effectively for some time as the crowd continued to grow.

After some time the crowd continued to move in closer and became very noisy.

Around 2:45 PM to 3:00 PM the crowd had thinned out some, the students were settling down and some started asking better questions. Some of the ones listening the most intently and asking the better questions was a group of black students where several were lesbians and homosexual men.

I sat down and was able to have some very profitable discussion and answer many questions for about another hour. Most of the time the students sat quietly listening to my answers.

After about an hour around 4:00 PM the sun was beginning to go down and it was growing much colder.

At this point we decided to call it a day and left the campus.

Friday November 13, 2015: Today was another beautiful clear, sunny cool day but warmer than yesterday.

I began preaching around 11:55 AM and immediately began gathering small groups of students asking questions.

Most of the day I was able to preach and answer questions effectively although most of the time the crowd never liked my preaching or my answers.

I had several demonized hecklers today. Once today a student tried to steal my water, another tried to steal my hat, and later in the day I was physically attacked by a student.

In spite of all this much of the day the crowd as a whole though rowdy was fairly reasonable and civil.

Early on as the crowd was around 75-100 a student with dreads showed up with a speaker blaring music, standing next to me and attempting to rap.

Since I had to reserve the area and was not allowed to use amplified sound I warned the young man several times he needed to turn off his music and step down from my platform.

He refused to comply so I asked my wife to call for the administration and asked for my voice amplifier.

The administration came out and the young man turned off his music and tried to take off on his bike. He rode around me several times before driving off however when he started to leave his chain fell off and he wrecked his bike.

It really looked like God’s judgment on him.

I continued to preach and answer questions effectively to the crowd as it grew to around 125 at the largest.

Most of the time they would be quiet when I was answering a question. Some of the questions were not too bad.

I preached on until around 3:00 PM. As I attempted to leave a student asked about my testimony. I gave it to him and that was when the other student attacked me physically. He charged and ran into me threatening to punch me but did not. He was demonized and seemed to be on medication.

I spoke to the students for about 15 more minutes trying to finish up my testimony. We left around 3:15 PM to use the restroom in the student union. When we walked by again on the way out a group of students were still talking about the preaching in the area we had been preaching in.

The campus ministry leader was not able to be on campus today but my wife sister Elizabeth was witnessing and speaking to students on the sidelines all day.

Yesterday the weather was overcast but today it was perfectly clear and sunny with weather in mid to high 70’s.

I arrived on campus around and was in the free speech area by around 11:40 AM. As soon as I walked out two young men showed up and began setting up the theater like barriers around my free speech preaching circle.

The area was still full of the condoms the students had popped the previous day.

The water fountains behind me seemed much louder today than yesterday. I am not sure but it would not surprise me if they were turned up higher to help drown me out.

I was hoping some students would come around and ask questions before I started preaching but no one did. The area was fairly dead.

I started preaching around 11:50 AM and at the exact time I began the two black male police officers from the previous day showed up and I greeted them.

As soon as I started the Chi Alpha “leader” showed up with a few of the students with hand made signs. I am fairly certain they never do this when I do not show up. One sign said “We will pray for you” and another had a scripture verse about humility on it. I assume they do not think it is humble to lift up your voice and tell people what to do but it is humble to post it on a board and tell people they need to be humble “like them” of course.

Soon I had a nice small group asking questions. One young man identified himself as a pastor and was trying to trap me of course. He soon became upset and walked away. At that point I quickly lost most of the small crowd I had.

I think they were trying very hard to ignore me and thought I would be discouraged and quit.

A long haired, mocking young man from the previous day showed up blaring heavy metal sounding music and sat down in front of me. He was of course trying to drown me out.

Since I had reserved the area for free speech I did not appreciate this as amplified sound without a permit in my area does not allow me to have free speech.

Instead of saying anything to the police officers I decided to break out my voice amplifier and see if the police and administration would allow it.

It took a few minutes for me to get it out and hook it up but once I did and began preaching I immediately drew a crowd. The police and administrators said nothing to me.

I preached on the voice amplifier for about an hour and gathered a crowd that fluctuated from around 75-150.

The voice amplifier greatly helped due to the students heavy metal music on the speaker, the fountains behind me, and the noise of the rowdy crowd.

I put away the amplifier and the student turned back on his heavy metal music so I took my amplifier back out.

Later I think the student left so I put away my amplifier. I prefer to preach without the amplifier as it gives more of a monotone drone to the preaching. It also occupies my hands and I am accustomed to moving and using my hands much while preaching.

As the afternoon wore on I seemed to get stronger and stronger and the crowd seemed to grow to closer to 200 at times.

Several times I planned to try to calm things down and move into discussion mode but I did not seem to be able to get into that mode. I seemed stirred to preach.

My wife as usual had small groups around her all day long. The students kept telling me how loving and nice she was, I should let her preach, I should talk to them like she does, I would get a better response if I would be like her, etc.

Sister Elizabeth (wife) gave me several great testimonies of students who told her how God had dealt with them through the preaching and they got under conviction.

Finally around 3:00 PM I sat down in my chair and started trying to have some discussion. I did not really stay in my chair though nor did I stay in discussion mode as I remember.

I did get a few decent questions throughout the day although they were few and far between. Most were of the lower level, heckling, defending sinning, accusations of judging, judging is sin, we are all sinners, why do we need Jesus if we stop sinning, etc.

By 3:40 PM I still had a large, lively, rowdy crowd of over 100 but I had to use the restroom and decided to call it a day.

As I exited the barricades a black male student who had been on hand listening intently all day came up and thanked me. He told me “You need to come to the hood with that message.” He was very sincere.

I told him “I would be a little more careful if I preached over there.”

He said in all sincerity “They like it like that.”

Basically I have found what this student stated is true and that is real rank hardened sinners and tough guys can spot a phony and respect when someone is willing to stand up against all kinds of opposition for the truth.

The two black officers had left and a heavy set white male officer who walked us to our vehicle was on hand. This day he drove us in his police car to our vehicle.

We had the privilege of spending our anniversary serving and glorifying our Lord Jesus Christ by preaching on campus today.

We preached on this campus one day last fall. They have an excellent free speech spot, the police and administration do an outstanding job, and they just require you to call in advance to let them know when you are coming.

We had a few unexpected difficulties on the way to campus so we arrived slightly later than we had planned.

I was planning on arriving before noon but arrived a few minutes after. I arrived in the preaching area around 12:15 PM.

A white woman in charge of activities and two black male police officers were waiting for me. I greeted them all with a handshake and introduced myself.

Unfortunately the water fountain located close to the preaching area was turned on. It makes some noise so that made preaching a little more difficult.

I talked to the officers about standing and facing the grassy hill so the students could gather there but the officers did not want that. They thought it would possibly bring a safety issue and there was some sort of display on the hill that the students would most likely ruin if they gathered there.

I began preaching at about 12:25 PM.

I apparently made a poor choice of a preaching spot at first by attempting to preach from the hill. The students would gather on the side walkway where the officers did not want them but would not gather in front of me.

After about 15-20 minutes I moved out onto the circle in the free speech area about 35 yards from the fountain and immediately a crowd began to gather in a circle.

Some of the students even sat down and remained civil in the early part of the preaching.

Gradually the crowd increased to around 150 in a close circle around me. This campus seems to be about 50-60% black.

As last time the police officers did an excellent job both by not attempting to censor me, not interfering unnecessarily, and keeping the crowd in check.

The officers made the students stay out of the circle I was standing in which kept a distance between them and myself.

I had about 3-5 yards distance between the crowd and myself.

As the crowd became more rowdy later in the day the police brought out and set up a boundary around me.

About all of the questioning I got from the students and arguments were the typical low level “judge not”, “we can’t stop sinning”, “Jesus died to forgive us so it doesn’t matter what we do”, etc.

Most of the time though they remained calm enough to allow me to respond and answer as well as heard what I was saying.

I attribute a big part of this to the police officers commanding a certain level of respect.

At one point a student brought out a bunch of free condoms and started giving them away to the students.

The crowd rushed the student with the free condoms like starving children trying to grab food.

Whenever the students can see I am able to defend what I am preaching, answer their questions, and know what I am talking about they get under conviction and try to turn the preaching into a circus.

The students began blowing up the condoms into balloons and throwing them into the circle, putting them on their heads and popping them, etc.

After about two hours of solid Bible preaching, reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine with no one able to refute me the crowd thinned down to around 30-40.

At this point I was able to have more discussion and take better more sincere questions. I kept this up until about 3:10 PM and took a desperately needed restroom break.

As I exited the preaching area a young man named Matt introduced himself as the Chi Alpha pastor on campus (Chi Alpha is a Assembly of God campus ministry) and wanted to talk to me.

We had a good civil discussion on the way to the restroom and back. Finally I tried to pin him down on exactly how he believed on repentance, sinning and salvation.

He claimed he believed in repentance but said he did not think a person had to repent of all sin to be saved. I kept asking him for examples. He really couldn’t give any.

He said he did not believe in Once Saved Always Saved but said he did not believe a person loses salvation if they commit a sin.

This is typical talk and allows salvation while remaining in unrepentant sin.

His face began to twitch uncontrollably when we got on this subject.

I gave him the scenario of a Christian going out and committing the sin of fornication and asked him if while the person is in fornication are they walking in the light and does the blood cleanse them while in that sin (1 John 1:7).

Of course he danced around, never answered, and continued to twitch uncontrollably so I decided to call it a day.

I started to leave but the Chi Alpha leader began having a discussion with my wife and I had some discussion with a few other students.

Since leaving the Clemson area we had been moving west and it rained all day Monday and Tuesday.

We drove a few hours this morning to make it to Florence and it rained all the way.

First preached here back on April 4, 2012 on my way out to Oklahoma for the first time. After that I was contacted by a Baptist Calvinist pastor and challenged to a debate. We had the debate on February 13, 2013.

We also preached here one day last spring semester.

I arrived on the free speech gazebo platform and began preaching around 12:10 PM. After a few minutes a few students stopped to listen and began asking questions. They were civil at first but didn’t like my biblical answers even though they both claimed to be Christians and believe the Bible to be the Word of God.

Slowly the crowd continued growing up to around 70-120.

Thankfully today I was not plagued with hecklers following me around on the platform trying to sing songs over my preaching or students following me around trying to steal my crowd all day.

Most of the students stayed off the platform in the area below.

In the past there has been a black male professing Christian who has been particularly annoying. I don’t think he is a homosexual but he is somewhat feminine and has long hair. He usually tries to steal my crowd and preaches very emotional messages that are void of biblical content.

He preaches to my raucous sin defending, sin justifying, sin flaunting crowds of homsoexuals, pot smokers, drunkards, fornicators, porno perverts, cigarette smokers, rock and rollers, etc. most of whom profess to be “saved” as if they are some kind of church group that are all living holy lives.

Humanistic message of unity with some Jesus thrown in. Blah!

Well the good news is today he showed up but seemed to be quite subdued and more humbled than in the past.

Early on he jumped upon something in front of me and tried to preach to the crowd but didn’t last long. Soon he stopped.

After that he really didn’t interrupt again although he did try to preach to the crowd after I moved from preaching into discussion mode.

I am well aware most of the students do not really pay much attention to him but only act as if they are listening to spite me and see how I am going to respond. He has no message and says the same thing over and over.

My wife had students around her all day asking questions. She told me there was a group of Arab students who listened all day and were very amused. They were all smokers and started laughing when I sang the smoking song.

Several of the students that had been my fiercest hecklers in the past were very subdued today, did not interfere or interrupt and were actually cordial and friendly.

By around 2:00 PM the crowd was so loud, rowdy and boisterous I was unable to preach to them.

Several police officers and administrators were on hand all day.

I decided to shift gears into discussion mode and went to the back of the platform and sat down.

Most of the crowd would probably have moved back to where I was but the black male student with the loud mouth and no message started trying to preach to them.

I am fairly convinced if he was a white guy they would ignore him totally.

After about 10-15 minutes I went back to the front of the platform where I had preached earlier. By now the black male student had turned off the students so much with his low content, high emotional message there were only a few students left in the area.

When I began to address the students and preach again the black male student to my amazement did not try to interfere or interrupt me.

I gradually built the crowd back up again but not nearly as large as before. Maybe around 25-50. I preached and answered their questions as best as possible for some time.

One of the students suggested the idea that they come up on the platform with me so a bunch of the students came upon the platform.

At this point I had a group of students around me and so did my wife. A group also surrounded the black male student while he babbled on about unity, peace, etc. He never addresses sin or deals with the subject of biblical repentance.

After 3:00 PM I started having some good discussion with several students who were civil, opened and listened well.

My preaching had stirred the crowd and exposed their hearts but I saw how it had humbled some down at this point.

Soon the students I was talking to had to leave so I exited the platform and joined my wife who was surrounded by a handful of students.

We answered their questions until around 4:00 PM and left the campus for the day.

The problem is not physical, genetic, hormonal, or DNA. It is a heart problem.

Certainly if it is a damnable sin for someone to lust after someone of the opposite sex then of course it is a damnable sin for someone to lust after the same sex.

Matthew 5:27-30-Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: but I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Looking upon another with lust in the eyes of God is the same as committing adultery and the Bible is clear that no adulterer will enter into the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21).

All sex outside of marriage which God ordained to be between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-8) is fornication and fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of heaven (1 Corinthians 6:9-11, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 5:5).

Jesus said your lustful eye and sinning hand will get you cast into hell fire. One sin caused Adam to be kicked out of the garden. One sin caused the angels to be kicked out of heaven. When Jesus Christ was made a sin offering on the cross of Calvary for the sin of the world God the Father turned away from His own Son who had never sinned.

Habakkuk 1:13-Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity.

According to Jesus a lustful eye whether for opposite sex or same sex and a sinning hand will cause someone to be sent to hell. Jesus is so serious about this He said it is better to pluck out a sinning eye and cut off a sinning hand than to end up in hell.

However according to the scriptures (Matthew 5:27-30, Matthew 15:19-20, Mark 7:21-23) you can pull the eye out, cut the hand off but the real problem is the heart. It must be changed.

This is what it means to repent and be born again. To have a change of heart, a change of mind, a change of will, a change of ultimate intention, a change of lifestyle. Turning to Jesus means turning your back on your sin (Mark 1:15, Acts 20:21, Hebrews 6:1). You cannot turn to Jesus without turning your back on your sin.

If you are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Him (Luke 9:23, Matthew 16:24). You must die to your desires. The alcoholic must deny himself his lust of alcohol. The pervert must deny himself his lust of pornography. The drug addict must deny himself his lust for drugs. The fornicator must deny himself his lust of fornication. And yes homosexuals included must deny themselves their lust for the same sex.

To become a homosexual one must first resist the truth of God (Romans 1:18), of creation (Romans 1:20), change the image of God (Romans 1:23), be given over to lust (Romans 1:24), and change the truth of God into a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the creator (Romans 1:25).

While we must always have compassion on anyone in sin we must never be manipulated into allowing them to talk us into somehow excusing them from their perversion when they have committed all of the above to end up where they are now.

Romans 1:26-28-For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

The heart must be purified and changed.

Faith that saves purifies the heart.

Acts 15:9-And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

A purified heart will result in a purified lifestyle.

2 Corinthians 5:17-Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.

If your heart has been purified you will no longer be lusting after people of the opposite sex or the same sex. If someone is still lusting after people of the opposite sex or the same sex then they have not repented. They have not been born again. They have not been made a new creature. Their hearts have not been purified by faith.

To be delivered from any sin you must first admit that indeed it is a sin against God. Believing you are born that way or that you are not responsible for the thoughts of your heart will never cause you to be set free.

Second you must admit you deserve hell for your sin and God is totally just in sending you to hell.

If you do not believe you deserve hell for your sin and God is just for sending you there then you have no fear of God (Matthew 10:28).

Without the fear of God you cannot hate your sin and depart from it (Proverbs 8:13, Proverbs 14:27, Proverbs 16:6, 2 Corinthians 7:1).

Most people claim to hate the sin when they really don’t. They only hate the consequences of their sin. That is worldly sorrow that leads to hell and not the godly sorrow that works repentance to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10).

No salvation without repentance. No repentance without godly sorrow which involves feeling bad about your sin against God.

Third you must have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ can set you free from the bondage of your sin (John 8:32-36, Romans 6:18, Romans 6:22, Romans 8:2).

You must believe that the Lord Jesus Christ can deliver you from the power of sin as well as forgive you for the penalty of your sin (Matthew 1:21, John 1:29, Acts 3:26, Galatians 1:4, Titus 2:14).

You must believe He can purify your heart and make you a new creature.

You must repent or forsake all your sin (Luke 13:3,5, Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19, Luke 24:47, Mark 1:15). There is no forgiveness without repentance. Repentance is not just confessing sin but forsaking sin (Proverbs 28:13). No mercy from God without forsaking your sin.

Calling on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sin (Romans 10:13). Forget about silly quick little prayer formulas. Get on your face and allow the Spirit of God to thoroughly deal with your heart and search you through and through. Cry out to God from your heart to save you, deliver you, cleanse you, wash you and purify you. He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him.